


Throat Massages

by lunaloop



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Cuddling, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Muke - Freeform, also based on a tumblr imagine i wrote, arzaylea is really annoying, ash fights with arzaylea, cashton are also really nice, it's based on what happened earlier this week, luke can't talk, luke is sick, mikey is cute, poor lukey, throat massages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 13:45:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6155576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaloop/pseuds/lunaloop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Luke comes stumbling into Michael's room in the middle of the night and his boyfriend gives him a neck massage like earlier on TV.</p>
<p>___________</p>
<p>The story of how Luke was sick the other day featuring (obviously) a day of sick Luke, a lot of Muke cuddles and sassy Ashton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Throat Massages

**Author's Note:**

> oops it has 8.5 k words

“And no, dammit, you can’t just massage Luke’s neck on TV, Michael. I don’t care if his throat was clear or not, you two have to keep a contract! Now we’ll have to take the necessary measures to…”

“God, yes, I understand! Means the bitch is coming?” Michael lets out a distressed groan as he tries to fight the urge to smack his phone against the wall.

“Yes, Arzaylea is already on her way.” The tone of the Modest!-guy’s voice is sharp and Michael can immediately tell he can’t afford to disobey the management again. Seems like they’ve gone a little too far now…

“Alright I guess,” he finally gives in with a deep sigh. “I just feel bad for our fans. They hate her; she’s a total bitch to them.”

“Michael, your vocabulary, _please_!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll shut up!” The 20-year-old groggily runs a hand through his faintly blue hair. It took him some time to get used to its new shortness, but know he’s satisfied with it and he knows Luke is, too. A little smile spreads on Michael’s lips when he says his goodbye, of course thinking of Luke.

“Bye then… It’s just… _my poor Lukey.”_

The disgusted expression on Modest!-guy’s face is almost audible through the telephone line and knowing he has annoyed them again makes Michael feel a little better about the whole situation. It’s still not fair, though, he thinks to himself after being told to act normal and finally ending the phone call. He hasn’t done anything wrong, has he?

No, goddammit, he just massaged Luke’s neck because he said his throat wasn’t clear. No big deal. Ashton and Calum would have done the same, especially as they can’t have their lead singer lose their voice right now. They just started touring.

In Michael’s opinion Modest! totally overreacted. They know that A-bitch is pissing everyone off with her outrageous behaviour especially towards the fans; however, they still believe she’s better for the band’s image than two gay members.

Suddenly Michael’s thoughts are interrupted by the sound of an opening door. A second later he is knocked off his feet by a heavy figure, falling backwards and luckily landing on his soft bedsheets with the attacking person on top of him.

“What the fuck, Luke, you’re crushing me!” Michael groans, breathless from the heavy weight being put on his body. However, he just gets a small chuckle instead of an answer, followed by Luke’s quiet, deep voice.

“Hey, cuddle.” He sounds a little hoarse and Michael immediately frowns in concern, but brushes it off quickly.

“If you kill me I’m never gonna cuddle you ever again, nerd.”

“Idiot,” Luke giggles and presses his nose against the older boy’s neck, too lazy to poke him with an actual finger. “Now you know how I feel every morning when you just…slump onto my poor, unsuspecting self.”

“Fuck you!” Michael raises his head and kisses Luke on his cheek even though his facial hair is scratching his lips. When Luke looks up from his spot at Michael’s neck the older boy pecks him again, this time on the tip of his tiny, cold nose. “How much time do we have?”

“’ dunno.” Luke sadly shrugs, still on top of Michael and definitely not in the mood for any encounters with his supposed girlfriends. “The b- She texted me and told me to pick her up in an hour.”

“Dammit, she’s fast!” Michael curses and wraps and arm around Luke’s waist, pulling him even closer. “I guess they told her to come anyway,” Luke figures loudly, earning a small nod from his bandmate.

“But hey – she won’t steal any of our time together, will she?”

“She won’t. I guess.”

“Well then, let’s cuddle!”

 

The rest of the day passes by rather fast, considering Michael is constantly confronted with the presence of the person he probably hates the most out of all people. The only positive thing about Arzaylea is that Luke dislikes her just as much as Michael does, so they can make nasty remarks about her together and the older boy doesn’t ever have to worry about being forced to hang out with her more than he has to.

The band is pretty busy during the day; they have two interviews coming up, a meeting and a concert in the evening. At soundcheck Michael notices that Luke seems a little off. The blonde lead singer is leaning against the wall with a worn out expression on his pale face, his cheeks and nose suspiciously red.

“Are you okay?” Michael softly asks to avoid startling him when they are done with performing. “Your voice sounds a little strained.” “I’m alright, don’t worry,” Luke smiles although his throat is a little sore by now and still not quite clear.

“I’ll just order some tea, that should help.”

“’kay, baby, how about we get it together right now?”

“’course.”

Luke briefly pecks Michael’s cheek in a gesture of fondness before linking their fingers together and walking over to the food table to get some tea.

The concert goes by smoothly although Luke finds his voice sounding a little funny from time to time. Nonetheless he brushes it off as a 24-hour-thing and goes on without telling anyone. He can take it anyway, therefore it can’t be too bad.

However, once the concert is finished odd things keep occurring. When they sit down on the couch backstage, discussing what they are going to do now Luke finds it hard to keep his eyes open and there seems to be a lump in his throat that just won’t go away.

Luckily, he’s apparently not the only one whose eyes are very droopy and after five minutes of trying to keep his heavy head from falling sidewards onto Michael’s shoulder the other boys finally decide against going out to a club with their friends, even though Arzaylea, being her annoying self, keeps whining about how she wants to enjoy her time in Tokyo.

Luke isn’t exactly in the best mood when they finally arrive at the hotel. Grumpily he wishes his friends a good night and goes to his room afterwards, where he slips under the uncomfortably cold bed covers, trying to forget about the fact that he has to sleep without Michael tonight.

Surprisingly Arzaylea soon joins him, getting changed in the bathroom before lying down next to him. Luke, whose mind is just starting to get a little fuzzy, raises his disorientated head and reaches for the stuffed penguin he still keeps bringing on tour.

It may be embarrassing, but sometimes he needs it, especially when he is in a bad mood, which is the case right now. The lump in his throat seems to be growing bigger and bigger every passing minute and he just feels really poorly by now.

“God, Luke, you don’t need the fucking penguin, do you?” Arzaylea snorts from her spot on the bed. “You’re so _pathetic_.”

But Luke just snuffles a little and rolls onto his other side, burying his face in the soft fabric of his penguin. It smells like Michael and like Michael’s cologne and, taking in his boyfriend’s familiar scent with every breath, Luke soon falls asleep.

However, he somehow doesn’t get to rest properly that night. After about one and a half hour he begins to toss and turn under the sheets, being oddly cold and achy all over. The uncomfortable feeling settling in his body even steals into his dreams, leaving him in a maze of blurry silhouettes and hazy visions.

Luke jolts awake with a scream caught up in the back of his throat, shooting straight up from his lying position, his body shaking furiously. Before he can even start to take in the whole situation a searing pain erupts in his throat, causing him to whimper out in agony.

It just feels like is neck has been set on fire, no, his whole face is burning with a fire that is strangely colder than ice and there is a pounding ache in the back of his head. Luke feels his mouth go dry, but he tries to swallow nonetheless, only to find himself to not be able to do it.

Panic rises in his chest and it feels like he can’t breathe because his throat is tied up. Salty tears brim in Luke’s burning eyes when he swings his shaking legs over the edge of the bed in an attempt to stand up. He needs Michael right now, even if it’s just to hold him and calm him down, he can’t do this on his own.

Luke stumbles towards the counter in his hotel room where he has half his key cards, still in his disorientated state, shivering at the rapid loss of warmth. He is sure he has never felt this cold before as his teeth chatter quietly to the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears, the pain in his throat increasing with every bang.

Another hoarse whimper leaves Luke’s dry lips as he leans against the unpleasantly cold counter to collect himself. _So bad, so bad, so bad_. That’s the only thing he can think right now, stumbling towards the door and leaving the room. He hasn’t even put on socks, let alone shoes, he realises as he staggers across the unfamiliar hotel corridor in search for Michael’s room.

Luke feels his eyes droop even though the pain in his throat and head is unbearable, but suddenly he stumbles and almost falls over. “M-Mikey,” he croaks out in hope to draw any attention on him. He feels like his knees are going to give in right then and there, but the corridor stays empty.

Of course. Everyone is sleeping.

“M-Mikey,” Luke rasps again, his voice almost completely gone by now. A single tear fights its way down his cheek and he raises a shaky hand to wipe it away, wincing at how cold his fingers feel on his skin.

He needs to find Michael! But where even is his room? Luke frantically looks around, trying to recognize any of the doors to his sides; however, they all look the same. _I can’t even tell where I came from_ , he realises as the panic inside him grows stronger with every minute.

Suddenly the world in front of his eyes starts spinning and for a moment he is sure that he is going to faint. In an attempt to steady himself Luke grabs the wall, using it as a support for his tortured body.

He is so cold right now, cold, _so cold_. A high-pitched whine escapes him as he almost slides down the wall which is his only hold, but the noise sends another wave of searing, burning pain through his throat, which causes his vision to clear up.

Luke blinks a few times and sniffles, a few tears rolling down his cheeks, hot in his eyes yet icy cold on his skin. The contrast somehow helps him remember – suddenly he just knows that Michael’s room is the one right beside the hallway door.

As quick as he can Luke stumbles towards the entrance, sliding his key card over the sensor beside the handle before sighing relieved when the door clicks and opens. He’s beside Michael’s bed within two seconds, not even caring about his shaking legs anymore, and just slumps onto it, completely off balance by now and definitely not able to walk another inch.  Luckily, Michael is a very light sleeper and almost immediately jolts awake when Luke falls on top of him.

“What the fuck?” he curses quietly. “What time is it?!”

“M-Mikey…” Luke croaks out and buries his face in the white blankets, failing to slide underneath the covers next to his boyfriend.

“Jesus Christ, Lukey, what’s the matter? Why are you here?” Michael’s expression changes from confusion to concern within seconds and the older boy immediately opens his arms when he notices the condition Luke is in.

The blonde practically throws himself at Michael, desperately longing for the warmth of his soft embrace. A second later he is shivering against the blue-haired boy’s chest, clinging to him as if his life depended on it as Michael curses again: “Aaww, shit, baby. What happened to you? Can you look up for me, please?”

Luke just whimpers, the croaky noises coming out of his mouth muffled by Michael’s shirt, and snuggles closer to his bandmate. Now that he has made it to his boyfriend’s room he only wants to sleep and forget about the pain searing through his head and throat.

However, Michael places a hand underneath his chin and forces him to look up for a moment, eyeing him concernedly for a moment before pressing the back of his hand against Luke’s forehead.

“Oh my fuck, Lukey,” Michael swears under his breath, “you’re burning up like damn!” And that’s when Luke just can’t take it anymore; suddenly everything just becomes too much and he completely breaks down, turning into a sobbing and whimpering mess as Michael holds him close and tries to soothe him.

“Oh f- Shhh, Lukey, it’s okay. Tell me what’s the matter, baby, please, tell me what hurts. Shhh, you’re alright, Lukey boy, you’re alright.” “I-I it h-hurts so bad, Mikey,” Luke attempts to get out, however, there is no sound beside his quiet, hoarse cries and whimpers escaping his mouth, which just causes him to sob harder.

He is still shaking furiously as Michael holds him, gently brushing his hair out of his burning face. The state Luke is in really worries the older boy and even though he has figured out that this is about Luke’s sore throat by now he asks again: “Baby, you gotta tell me what hurts.”

“T-throat,” Luke manages to croak out, slowly starting to calm down in Michael’s tight embrace. He looks up at his boyfriend with glossy, teary blue eyes, his hands finding the older boy’s under the blankets.

“Aaww, Lukey. Bad timing I guess. At least we have two days off till we have to go to Shanghai. ‘m gonna make sure you rest. Gonna make you feel a lot better. Gonna take care of you.”

“M-Mikey,” Luke weakly whispers, his tiredness hitting him all of a sudden now that he safely arrived in Michael’s big, warm bed. However, he feels like he won’t be able to sleep right now, probably due to the pain in his throat and maybe the fever he is apparently running.

“M-Mikey,” he repeats even more quietly, figuring whispering will hurt less. “C-can you please do that thing you did the other day?”

“What thing, Lukey?” Michael raises his eyebrows in confusion. He has passed on to gently petting the back of Luke’s head where is hair is all soft and curly. The younger boy shyly catches his glowing green gaze in the dark.

“When you…uhm…rubbed my neck on TV because- It just felt r-really good.” He can feel himself blushing even though Luke has figured out by now that his face is probably already red with fever.

“Aaww, penguin, of course I’m gonna do it again if you want me to. No big deal,” Michael coos at him and softly kisses his cheek before his hands are on Luke’s hot, dry skin all of a sudden, making the blonde shudder and shiver.

The fingertips feel cold on his swollen neck, yet nothing has ever felt so good. A throaty noise escapes him, almost a broken moan due to the apparent inflammation of his throat, and Luke trembles against Michael, his entire body vibrating as the touch feels like heaven in his neck.

“Shhh,” Michael soothes again, this time a lot quieter. “Shhh, Lukey, relax, there’s nothing to worry about. Shhh, I gotcha, baby, shhh.”

And with his gentle, fond, loving whispers ringing through his ears Luke drifts away into the depth of sleep, fully relaxed in his lover’s strong arms.

 

However, being with the ones you love doesn’t always make you physically feel better, and both Luke and Michael have to learn that soon. Especially the older boy doesn’t get a lot of sleep over the last nightly hours, constantly being woken up by Luke trashing around and whimpering brokenly, his caught in feverish shadows of nightmares.

It breaks Michael’s heart to know that the 19-year-old isn’t even able to rest in his state, knowing he will still feel exhausted once he wakes up. Around 8 o’clock in the morning, when Luke is still sleeping restlessly, Michael decides to get up.

He goes for a shower, trying to make as little noise as possible as he fetches his towels and clothes for the day. Hopping under the warm stream of clear water makes him feel a little better about the lack of sleep he’s got and he stays in the shower for over 20 minutes, dreaming about a life where he is free and _out_.

Once he has finally got out and prepared himself for the day he returns to his room, noticing Luke shaking in his slumber and draping another blanket over him even though he’s still burning with a fever.

Michael spends the next hour watching some pointless anime shit on TV, not understanding a single word, but he doesn’t mind as long as it’s entertaining. Yes, Japan really just is his country and they had so much fun here, touring and exploring the foreign culture and meeting the fans.

It just sucks that he can’t enjoy his last two days here before they have to go to China – partly due to Luke’s sudden sickness and partly due to…the bitch in the room across the hallway.

Michael groans loudly as he can’t seem to get his thoughts off her. He just hopes that the management will at least let him take care of Luke because he is pretty sure his boyfriend would die after a single hour of Arzaylea’s caretaking.

At some point the blue-haired boy gets up from the chair he has taken and heads over to the bed, checking on Luke for the third or fourth time. It’s probably about time to wake him up, Michael figures. He needs to get some food and medication into him anyway.

Knowing Ashton is the keeper of any medical stuff, Michael grabs his keycard and makes his way over to his bandmate’s room, which is opposite to his own.

“Ashton?” he whispers when he reaches the older boy’s bed, crouching down in front of it so that he can take a proper look at the curly-haired guy between the messy sheets. “Ash?”

“Ugh, _what_?” the drummer groans, his voice muffled by the cushions he’s lying on. “I’m asleep.”

“Fuck, you’re not! I know it,” Michael teases with a smirk, still finding time to be childish even though he’s really worried about Luke. “I need you,” he adds after a second of silence, hoping that will catch Ashton’s attention.

“No, you don’t. Go annoy Luke or Calum.”

“But I can’t annoy Luke.”

“Why the fuck?”

“Bec-“

“Goddammit, _Michael_ , if you woke me because of the fucking bitch I swear to god I’ll grill your fat ass and make you eat it. Just tell her to fuck off!”

“Grumpy Ashton is grumpy,” Michael half-chuckles, yet getting a little annoyed by his friend’s behaviour.

“Shut up, Clifford.”

“Ashton, dammit, would you please listen to me for one second? This is not about me – it’s about Luke and I need your help!”

“And what the fuck do you need me for?” Ashton huffs, however, his voice already sounds a little softer and Michael knows it’s because of the mention of Luke. Nobody can deny that the two boys are incredibly close, Ashton being another older brother for his younger bandmate.

Michael doesn’t mind – he knows Calum and him are just as close.

“So Lukey is sick and since you are keeping the medic-“

“Wait, what? Hold on for a sec!” Ash rolls over and eyes Michael with his hazel gaze, lazily brushing dark blonde curls out of his face. “Why is Luke sick?”

“Because he is. I don’t know why, but he came joining me at some point last night. I think his throat is really inflamed or something and he also has a fever. So can you please tell me where you hide the stuff?”

“It’s in the bag on the cupboard,” Ash explains as he wriggles out of his blanket cocoon. “I’m coming with ya. Take some Advil and the thermometer. Do you think he needs anything else?”

“Apart from a lot of tea with honey? I don’t think so,” Michael replies truthfully, grabbing the medical objects and already heading out of the door when Ashton follows him, only dressed in his pyjama bottoms, torso exposed.

“Shhh, he’s still sleeping.” Michael presses a finger against his lips as soon as they enter his room, signalling Ashton to keep the noise down as he heads towards the bed where Luke is still asleep, body curled into a surprisingly small ball. His boyfriend sadly sighs, knowing he only does this when he’s really worn out or – in this case – sick.

“Lukey,” he whispers next to his ear, the heat of Luke’s body hitting his pale skin. “Baby, I need you to wake up.”

Apparently, Luke is still sleeping very lightly as he almost immediately reacts, whining hoarsely and burying his face in the pillow underneath his head. Michael guides his own hand to touch the younger boy’s hot forehead before moving on to his shoulders.

“Wake up, baby. I need to take your temperature and then Ash can give you some medication. Does your throat still hurt?”

“Hmh-hm,” Luke whimpers and nods his head lightly as he finally looks up at Michael and Ashton, who has appeared beside his friend with a concerned frown on his face, with glossy blue eyes.

“You feel hotter than last night,” Michael states matter-of-factly, gently running his fingers through Luke’s slightly curly fringe. “I’m gonna check your temperature, baby. How about Ash also goes and gets you something to drink?”

The older boy instantly agrees and hurries towards the bathroom, leaving Michael to deal with Luke for a moment. After wetting his face with water, as he is still a little tired, and filling a glass with the transparent liquid Ashton joins them again, placing the jar on Luke’s nightstand before asking: “What’s his temperature?”

“It says 39.2 degrees,” Michael reads out as Luke curls into himself once again. “I think a few pills should help with that.”

“Indeed,” Ashton agrees and grabs the first box of medication. He decides to go for a small dose and hands Luke one of the small objects, instructing: “Drink some water, too, it’ll work out better.”

His bandmate nods and takes the pill, sipping on his water afterwards, and Michael hands him another one that should help with his headache. They stay in bed for a while, well, technically Ash is standing in front of the bed – anyway, after a while the drummer decides he is hungry.

“Goood, I need breakfast,” he whines and looks at his two friends with a pout. “Please tell me there is an ordering service.”

“There is indeed,” Michael confirms whilst running his fingers through Luke’s fluffy blonde fringe. “How about you order some, Irwin, and Luke and I take a shower because you, babe-“ he turns to his boyfriend with a small smile on his lips, “are starting to get a little sweaty.”

“You just took a shower, didn’t you?” Luke croaks and scoops himself up into a sitting position, struggling to support his own weight.

“I don’t care,” Michael chuckles with a fond expression, “I mean, shower time means time to jerk off and showering with my boyfriend…”

“I don’t think I need to know that,” Ashton snorts, backing off a few inches. “And, Clifford, if you do anything to him in the shower I’m gonna kill you. He’s sick and supposed to be resting! We’re going to China in two days!”

“Yes, _dad_ ,” Michael groans. “And now fucking hurry or else I’m gonna eat you!”

“Aaahhh.” In a joking attempt of running away Ashton stumbles against the counter, almost knocking off a small vase that has been placed on it. Then the curly-haired guy heads off, apparently ordering breakfast for the three of them.

Meanwhile Michael has got up and folded back the sheets previously draped over Luke’s body. “You due for a shower, Lukey?”

“I guess I’ll have to.” The younger boy lets out a surprisingly loud groan, followed by a fit of small coughs, and heaves himself off the bed. Michael worriedly watches the way he immediately starts to shiver as soon as he is standing and notes that his legs are shaking in concern.

“You’re pale as a sheet,” he whispers into Luke’s ear as he guides him to the bathroom, which is really big and light due to the big glass windows it has. However, much to Michael’s dismay, there isn’t a bath tub so he needs to get Luke to stand during the whole shower scene.

“Lift your arms, penguin, I’m gonna get that shirt off,” Michael gently commands, pulling the t-shirt over Luke’s stretched out arms as the feverish boy trembles a little under his apparently cold touch.

“Shhh, relax. I gotcha.” Michael’s mumbles are full of fondness and love, very similar to last night, however, this time Luke doesn’t even fully perceive the meaning of his boyfriend’s words as his throat is bothering again.

He lets the process of getting undressed and stepping into the shower simply wash over him, just adoring the feeling of his skin on Michael’s, the older boy’s arms wrapped around his waist as he presses soft kisses to his upper back and shoulders.

The water pouring down on him is pleasantly warm and comforting as he feels his hair being washed with the apple scented shampoo he uses to utilise. “M-Mikey,” Luke whines after a while of letting the water rain down on him.

“What’s the matter, baby?” Michael asks in a quiet voice that barely drowns out the constant sound of streaming water. “Throat hurts,” Luke quietly admits and rests his head on Michael’s shoulder until the older boy gently turns him around so that they are facing each other.

“Shall I give you another massage?” “Please?” “Whatever you want, Lukey. I’m yours.”

And then Michael starts his _massage_. At first there are only his fingers travelling across Luke’s skin, carefully digging into it to relax his burning muscles and release him from some of the pain.

But as soon as the younger boy feels soft lips on his neck and the powerful stroke of Michael’s tongue underneath his chin he can’t hold back the broken moan escaping his lips. It just feels so good, so relieving – impossible to think that Michael’s mouth is even better than his fingers, though it is.

Luke hears his boyfriend chuckle against his heated skin and moves closer, indicating he wants more of that massage. Michael goes on for another 5 minutes until he stops. “Lukey, I can’t go on… You’ll ruin your voice by moaning all the time.”

“It’s not even s-sexual,” Luke mumbles as he feels himself blush slightly under his pale complexion. “Just relieving.”

“I know, Lukey boy, no need to get flustered. But Ash will kill me if I keep doing that.” Michael shakes his head before he puts his wet hands on Luke’s slippery hip bones. “Anyway, baby, let’s get you washed off.”

After getting out of the shower for the second time today Michael first wraps Luke up in two towels, making sure he is warm, before taking care of himself. He dries off his body, lazily tossing the bath sheet on the floor and turning to Luke, who is sat on top of the toilet, head leaning against the cold wall.

“Hey, have you dried off yet, baby?” The younger boy shakes his head a little, trying to avoid hurting it any more, and makes grabby hands at Michael, demanding cuddles from him.

“Hold on, we can cuddle as soon as we get back into bed. The breakfast has probably arrived, too, so we can be all comfortable whilst eating. Sounds good?”

“Hmh,” Luke mumbles and closes his eyes as Michael frowns in worry. “Have the pills kicked in yet?” he asks and steps a little closer to his boyfriend, beginning to gently dry him off with one of the towels.

“T-think so,” Luke weakly responds. “Throat and hurt don’t hurt as b-“ He cuts himself off and coughs into his elbow, continuing afterwards: “As bad as before. But ‘m still cold.”

“Aaww, I know, penguin. Don’t worry, once your fever has gone down a bit it’ll get a lot better. Stand up, please?”

The next ten minutes basically consist of Michael drying off Luke, wrapping him up in a bathrobe after helping him put on new sweatpants and a t-shirt along with an oversized sweaer, and a lot of sweet feel-better-kisses.

The way Luke looks at his bandmate with big, glossy and reddish eyes, his cheeks and the tip of his nose bright red and his mouth slightly open due to his new stuffy nose, reminds Michael a lot of when they were younger.

He’s been in two similar situations before and, he happily realises, Luke hasn’t lost any of his adorableness. “Hey, you still awake, Lukey?” he gently asks after putting away the wet towels, turning to Luke, who is half asleep on the floor, back against the door.

“Aaww,” the older guy coos and chuckles a little when his stomach makes a growling noise, indicating it wants food as soon as possible. “C’mon, get up from the floor, Lukey boy, I bet Ash has already eaten half of the breakfast!” Michael demands and offers Luke his hand which the blonde thankfully takes, using it as support while he shakily staggers back into the main room.

He instantly flops down onto the bed, moving to its upper and and bringing his knees close to his chest as Michael drapes a blanket over him. Much to his surprise neither Ash nor anyone else is in the room apart from them.

“God, Irwin, if you actually took the breakfast,” the blue-haired groans as he slides under the covers beside Luke, rubbing his empty stomach while his boyfriend snuggles closer to him until he basically lies on his lap like a kitten.

However, before anyone can say anything the door swings open and two persons enter the room, well, they rather capture it like two pirates, bouncing up and down as they make their way over to the bed.

“I brought Cal, folks!” Ashton cheerily exclaims, causing Luke to cover his ears with a quiet whimper and Michael to glare at his friends before his expression softens at the sight of food in the other boys’ arms.

“What did you order?” he asks when Calum and Ashton, who both shirtless for some reason, take a seat on the bed as well.

“I have eggs, bacon in a box I found in my backpack, and-“ “You mean you find bacon in your backpack? Eeww…” Calum, who was just about to take a huge bite of the grilled meat, sets it down immediately, looking at it with a disgusted expression. “I was about to eat that!”

“God, no, silly, I ordered it and put it in the box,” Ash laughs and doesn’t waste his chance to steal the bacon.

Shoving it into his mouth, he giggles and now Cal isn’t the only one wearing a disgusted expression anymore. “Eeww, I don’t wanna see your ugly-ass teeth,” Michael swears and buries his face in Luke’s slightly curly hair. It smells good, like apples and a little cinnamon. Sometimes Michael wishes shampoo was actually flavoured.

“And I got fruit and a whole lot of cream for some reason,” Ashton adds after swallowing the bacon and suddenly shoves a piece of mango into Luke’s mouth. “C’mon, you need to get some vitamins into you.”

Surprisingly, the younger boy starts chewing on the fruit, yet lets out a pained whimper when he has to swallow. Michael encouragingly runs his hand up and down his back, hoping to help him a little as Luke apparently decides he isn’t hungry and lowers his body into a lying position until his head is resting on the pillow between Michael and Calum, who quietly coos at him.

“Aaww, you poor thing-“ Suddenly he is interrupted by the unmistakeable sound of someone’s complaining voice in front of the room, just before a vigorous knock rings out to the four boys on the bed.

“What the fuck!” Michael snorts, having immediately identified the person waiting outside as Arzaylea. The blue-haired boy raises his voice and shouts: “What the fuck do you want?”

“Clifford, I swear to fucking hell that I’m going to tell you damn management if Lucas doesn’t move his little ass out of your room within the next five seconds.

A distressed groan is heard from Luke and the singer covers his ears with his hand, burying his face in Michael’s shirt as he tries to block out the noise his fake girlfriend is making. “Make her go, please,” come his muffled begs a second later and Ashton doesn’t hesitate a second before standing up and walking over to the door.

“Arzaylea,” he sighs, drawing out her name in an overly kind voice. “Could you please tell me what you want?”

“I want Lucas fucking Hemmings next to me!” Michael and his bandmates hear the woman curse outside the room. “And you’re not prohibiting me from telling the management if he doesn’t follow the rules.”

“Well, do you think you could survive a day without _your_ Lukey by your side?”

“Fuck, Irwin, d’you really think I’m doing this for myself? I get fucking paid for it! If I could I would quit this damn job – I am so frickin tired of Luke because he is such a pathetic little shit.” Arzaylea breaks into hysterical laughter and her shrill voice is starting to hurt Luke’s ears as he continues to press his body against Michael’s. “You know what, Irwin? He needs a fucking toy penguin to sleep at night.”

“Well, since you care oh-so-much I think it is only fair to tell you that your pathetic _boyfriend_ won’t go anywhere today as he’s sick and definitely needs to focus on getting better before our next show instead of being bossed around by you. So fuck off!”

“I don’t fucking care if Luke is sick – let me at least take a damn video of him. Don’t you think your fans deserve some information?”

“You don’t get it, do you? The fans don’t want that information. They don’t want you. And they blame L- let’s just say the wrong people for the shit you’re giving them. And no, you won’t ruin our day and take pictures of anyone! Leave this fucking hallway right now, Arzaylea, I don’t wanna catch another glimpse of you today!”

Ashton sharply exhales the air he has forced to stay inside his lungs during his heated speech and surprisingly Arzaylea stays quiet after his words. She glares at him through the crack between the door and the doorframe, but the drummer couldn’t care less.

Without giving her another look he slams the door shut, keeping her out of the room for now.

“Wow, that was hell of a statement, Ashy!” Calum remarks as soon as his best friend has returned to the bed.

“She deserved it!” the older guy hisses and aggressively grabs a piece of mango, taking a huge bite from it. “She’s giving the fans shit and they give Luke shit for her shit.”

“Agreed.” Michael swallows a mouthful of the cream Ash has brought while Calum adds: “A lot of shit in one sentence.”

“Well,” Ash glances at the back of Luke’s head in Michael’s lap before he turns to his bandmates again, “I couldn’t have said it better, Cal.”

 

After breakfast Ashton and Calum leave the room to go and meet some friends in the city while Michael and Luke curl up on the sofa of the older boy’s hotel room, watching the only English show they could find on Japanese TV which happens to be some cartoon crap Michael _totally_ doesn’t watch whenever they’re on break.

Luke ends up falling asleep against his boyfriend’s chest, his mouth slightly open and soft snores escaping him with every breath. Meanwhile Michael just watches him, a fond smile on his lips. It’s not that he likes to see Luke in pain – he just loves how they have an excuse to cuddle all day whenever this happens, no one disturbing their time together.

After a while Michael gets up and gets his laptop which he uses to go on the internet and scroll through Twitter and Tumblr. He doesn’t get why some artists don’t do it, claiming it is ‘weird’ for one to google themselves – Michael just does it to keep up with the fans and make people happy, even though he’s undercover most of the time.

He wishes he could tweet out pictures of his sick, cuddly boyfriend or at least put him into the band’s snapchat, but he knows management won’t let him and neither will Arzaylea.

He still wonders how she can still hold on to Luke, knowing he doesn’t even like her. Does she think she has a chance? Or does she just want to piss everyone off?

She’s doing a pretty good job, Michael realises as he scrolls through some tags on Tumblr – hardly anyone seems to like her and even if there are people who don’t despise her those are certainly not 5sos fans.

_Why do I care so much?,_ Michael wonders. _Why do I care about someone who is completely irrelevant?_

Knowing looking at Arzaylea’s pictures and tags won’t make him very happy, Michael shuts his laptop and goes for calling Calum instead. Shocked he realises it’s already past 03:00 PM. They time really passed by, hasn’t it?

“Did you kill Luke?” is Calum’s first question when the dark-haired boy picks up, chuckling when Michael snorts at the other end of the line. “More like I killed Avocado-bitch,” he growls. “You’re so stupid, Hood, I don’t even know why we’re friends.”

“I don’t know ‘bout you, but I became your friend out of pity,” Calum jokes and adds after a second of Michael gasping at his rudeness: “What’s up, anyways?”

“I wanted to know if you and the other guy are coming back sometime?”

“You were wondering if after all these years I’d like to meet, hmh?” Calum disrupts himself to laugh at his own, lame joke. “Well, we’re having fun here. We j- Wait, what- Hold on for a sec, Mike!”

He starts talking to another person, but Michael can’t make out any words or familiar voices. After a few seconds Calum is back.

“Ashton wants to know how Lukey is doing?”

“Well, I suppose his temperature has dropped a bit, probably due to the medication he received. He’s sleeping right now.”

“Good. And Ash says you can take him on a short walk when he wakes up, the fresh air will help with his headache. Just make sure he doesn’t overstrain himself.”

“I’m not gonna let that happen!” Michael assures his friend.

“Cool. We’re back around 5:00. Bye.”

“Bye.”

And that’s how Michael and Luke actually end up outside about 45 minutes later.

“I wanna go home,” Luke whines, already tired and sick of walking, even though they have just exited the hotel.

“God, I knew I was passive, but I’m nothing compared to you!” Michael teases his boyfriend with a smirk. “You act like you’re dying.”

“I am dying,” Luke points out and stops walking with a pout on his face. “I am sick and you forced me to go out.”

“It was Ashton’s idea and now shut up, Lukey. You know I’ll spoil you with kisses once we’re back.”

“But we’re never going to get back! I’m going to die right here!”

“Goddammit, Luke, it’s just like two blocks. It’ll help your head.”

“But what if anyone sees us?”

“…holding hands? Honestly, I don’t care right now. I’ll just tell them you needed support because you’re sick and tired.”

“And I’m dying.”

“Shut up, Luke.”

The make it to the next intersection safely and with every step they take Luke’s complaining reduces until he is just listening to Michael, sometimes throwing in random commentaries with his adorably croaky voice.

However, he gets tired pretty soon and after a while Michael starts to feel bad for taking him out against his will. “Are you okay, Lukey?” he softly asks. “I think we should go back to the hotel. Your cough is getting pretty bad.”

“Hmh?” Luke looks at him with glossy eyes that give away that his fever is rising again. “m’ fine,” he mutters nonetheless and squeezes Michael’s hand reassuringly.

“We should still go back like right now,” the older boy decides with a frown. “I’m worried about you.” This time Luke doesn’t even bother to answer. During the entire way back to the hotel Michael keeps sending Luke worried glances, knowing his condition is constantly worsening although he won’t admit anything.

The blue-haired is more than relieved when they finally reach their condition after what seemed like an hour. He leads Luke straight back to his hotel room where Calum and Ashton are already expecting them.

“We decided to come back earlier than we had planned,” Calum explains the situation to Michael as Ash helps Luke lie back down and get situated in the hotel bed, acting like the protective older brother again.

“How come?” Michael questions with a frown.

“Well, we decided to go out tonight. Ash and I are joining some people of the local crowd we met earlier. How did your walk go, anyway?”

“It was quite funny and relaxing. Although I am a little worried about Luke.” Michael glances at his boyfriend whose back is facing him by now. “He’s getting worse again.”

Calum gives him a cheering smile. “I’m sure he’ll be okay in a few days! We still have one and a half day off till we go to Shanghai.”

“Mike, Cal,” Ashton suddenly calls from his spot on the top of Luke’s bed, waving at his two bandmates. “We’re running out of fever reducers. Could you two please go to the store and grab me some?”

“’course!” Michael exclaims before Calum even has time to think about the question. “We’ll be back soon!” Then he drags his best friend out of the room, leaving Ashton and Luke on their own for a while.

A few minutes of silence pass by and Luke strangely finds himself unable to sleep as his body can’t seem to decide whether he feels too hot or too cold. “Ashyyy,” the blonde boy whines after some time. “I-I can’t sleep.”

“Yeah, I know, buddy. Don’t work yourself up right now.” Ashton soothingly runs a hand over Luke’s back in an attempt to keep him calm. “But, Ashy, why can’t I sleep?”

“Shhh, no talking for now Lukey. I guess your fever’s been rising again, that’s probably why. Wanna do something?” “I don’t know. What?” “Chess?” Ash offers with a slight smile. Playing chess is something the band has got used to doing whenever they are bored, which, truth be told, hardly ever happens.

Also Ashton is rather the guy you will find playing while Michael barely joins his matches, but neither Calum nor Luke mind their bandmate’s kind of entertainment.

“S-sounds good,” Luke rasps out and coughs dryly after finishing his sentence. “Are you getting’ the stuff?”

“Yeah, don’t worry ‘bout it, Lukey, I got it.” Ashton gets up from the bed and heads over to the bags he has dropped by earlier. Knowing Luke will get bored sooner or later, he brought a small collection of movies and some random board games along with a bar of chocolate. “Move aside, Lukey, here I come!” Ash giggles once has collected the items he needs and joins his friend on Michael’s bed. “It’s gonna get comfy!” he adds, laughing, when he notices the younger boy resting his head on a huge white pillow.

“I know you’re not supposed to eat chocolate when you’re sick because apparently it’s not good for your throat, but at least it makes you happy. You know, management will probably be pissed because  you didn’t spend your day with her; however, I actually saw her snapchat story and she was outside so nobody won’t miss her being here anyway,” Ashton merrily chatters as he casually prepares for the game.

That’s actually how the next 30 minutes pass by, the curly-haired boy doing most of the conversation as Luke is supposed to rest his voice. Even though the get finished rather quickly they have some fun and Ashton is happy to win against Luke for once, aware of the fact that he can’t concentrate very well due to the nagging ache in his head.

Playing chess makes him tired at least and so Luke ends up falling asleep before Ashton has even had time to remove the board. He leaves his friend asleep and takes a seat in one of the stools beside the door, quietly reading messages on his phone.

When Calum and Michael arrive 15 minutes later with a bag full of medical supplies and another one with three movies Michael has insisted on buying, claiming they will need them later that day.

It’s already 07:20 PM so Cal and Ash decide to get ready for going out while Michael stays in his room, gaming on his Nintendo DS and ordering dinner from the hotel restaurant. He wakes Luke up when the food arrives, carefully running his fingers through his boyfriend’s soft honey-coloured hair as he whispers sweet nothings into his ear.

“W-what?” comes the tiny whimper from Luke after a little while and the blue-eyed boy groggily raises his head from the pillow, immediately regretting it due to the intense pain shooting through his head. Clutching his head with his hands, he glances at his boyfriend with widened, baby-blue eyes.

“Dinner time,” Michael chuckles at the facial expression he’s wearing. “I got you some soup, figured it would help your throat.”

“I don’t like soup,” Luke whines and buries his face in the pillow beneath him as he refuses to interact with Michael.

“It’s nice soup, I promise. And I’ll even feed it to you if you want me to.” The older boy gives him an encouraging and, in Luke’s opinion, overly enthusiastic thumbs-up. However, the blonde singer is convinced quickly and shakily struggles to get up.

“Aaww,” Michael coos and pulls him onto his lap where Luke relaxes against him, closing his eyes again. “Oh no, no, no, no, Lukey, that’s not like a meant it you lil’ cheater, wake up for me. C’mon, babe, you can’t do that to me. Open your eyes again, Luke, I’m serious, you need to eat, I don’t want Liz to hate me if you die of starvation. I get that you’re tired, but I’ll take good care of you.”

“Why are you so annoyingly nice,” Luke groans in his raspy voice and blinks, his long eyelashes fluttering against Michael’s neck as the younger boy hides away his slightly red face. “Hmh,” his boyfriend murmurs against his blonde hair, “maybe because I love you? Uh, no, scratch that, I just feel bad for making you go out earlier.”

“I hate you,” Luke pouts, but Michael quickly shuts him up by pressing a finger against his lips, noticing he’s not wearing his lip ring. “No talking for now, Lukey boy, I’m gonna feed you that soup and then we can cuddle and watch some movies.”

“Hmh.” Luke blinks again before giving Michael a questioning look that seems to say ‘so where is my food’. “Right here, baby, open up,” the blue-haired guitarist replies and takes a spoonful of soup to Luke’s open mouth, giggling as he watches his bandmate swallow it with some difficulty.

“Not nmgnice,” the singer mumbles but takes another mouthful anyway. The soup feels better on his raw throat than he expected and actually Michael hasn’t lied – it tastes quite nice indeed.

The two boys end up sharing Luke’s bowl of soup before Michael goes for his own meal – some sort of strange pasta he’s never seen before – as Luke is gradually falling asleep on his chest, forehead resting against  his comfortingly warm neck.

He is woken up about 20 minutes later when Michael decides to rest the cool back of his hand on Luke’s head, making the younger boy whimper a little as a shiver runs down his spine although he kind of enjoys the touch.

“Aww, you’re still burning up, Lukey,” Michael sympathetically whispers next to his lover’s ear. “How you feeling?”

“Worse than just now,” Luke tries to rasp out; however, he discovers his voice is gone. Hoping Michael will realise what he means, the blonde sniffles a little before pointing at his throat and making a sad face. “Does it hurt?” his boyfriend questions immediately, moving his palms to his neck.

Luke winces at the gentle touch since it sends a burning pain erupt near where he believes his tonsils are. All the relief Michael’s fingers and lips have brought earlier seems to be gone, nothing left, and he feels himself tearing up at the thought of his suffering, his fever making him emotional.

“Aww, I can feel that it’s really swollen,” Michael sighs and quickly removes his hands when he realises it’s causing Luke pain. “I think you’ll just have to rest and hope that you’re gonna be okay till our next show. Movie?”

His boyfriend slightly nods his head and Michael doesn’t hesitate to scoop Luke up from the bed and carry him over to the couch in front of the TV where he has gamed earlier. Cradling the younger boy like a precious little baby, which he sometimes is to Michael, the blue-haired sets him down on the sofa and hurries to grab him some blankets, draping them over Luke’s weak and drained body before turning on the TV.

Michael decides to put on some movie he has never watched before and only bought because of its interesting description, a romantic one, just the kind Luke enjoys. Sliding under the blankets and pulling his lover close, Michael whispers: “Are you alright, love?”

He receives a tiny nod from Luke as the younger guy snuggles close to him, the fabric of their t-shirts brushing against each other’s and their hands intertwined under the sheets.

And, surprise, surprise, Michael finds it particularly hard to pay attention to the movie as he just can’t keep his eyes off Luke, who falls asleep within five minutes.

He’s just adorable lying there, cheeks and nose red from his fever and his body being racked by little coughs every once a while. A sick angel – Michael’s angel.

With a smile the older boy realises once again – no matter what happens, no matter if Arzaylea pisses everyone off, no matter if management are giving them a hard time, no matter if anyone hates on them, no matter if Luke gets sick in the middle of the tour, they will be there for and take care of each other.

They are LukeandMichael after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Heyy guys,  
> quick note for now (I'm actually supposed to be in bed rn XD).  
> I really enjoyed writing this, actually, bc I basically love sick!luke and even though I really wanted him to feel better when he was sick it really gave me a lot of cute ideas. The throat massage thingie is based on my tumblr post (http://lunalooplarry.tumblr.com/post/139929171929/imagine-just-do-it) 


End file.
